In the Guardian: The end of secret evidence?

2.12.09

For the Guardian’s Comment is free, “The end of secret evidence?” is an article I wrote celebrating what appears to be the demise of the British government’s eight-year policy of imprisoning terror suspects — both foreign and British nationals — without charge or trial, or otherwise depriving them of their liberty under a form of house arrest, on the basis of secret evidence.

The apparent demise of the government’s ill-considered response to terrorist threats in the wake of the 9/11 attacks follows a High Court ruling yesterday. Referring to a ground-breaking ruling in June, in which the Law Lords concluded that the government’s use of secret evidence contravened the right of those held under control orders to a fair trial (as guaranteed by Article 6 of the European Convention on Human Rights), the High Court judges extended these same rights to other men facing deportation under identical circumstances. It was, the judges said, “impossible” to conclude “that in bail cases a less stringent procedural standard is required” than in control order cases.

The heart of the problem, for the last eight years, has been the government’s insistence that it is legitimate to restrict detainees’ access to secret evidence. In the “terror court” — the Special Immigration Appeals Court (SIAC) — which is used for cases allegedly related to terrorism, special advocates are appointed to represent detainees in closed sessions, where secret evidence is discussed, but are then prevented from discussing anything that take place in these sessions with the men they represent. As I explained in June, “This impenetrable barrier to transparency also works in the other direction, as suspects cannot brief the advocates effectively when they are kept in the dark regarding the details of the case against them.”

The Law Lords’ ruling in June signaled the beginning of the end for the control order regime, and yesterday’s High Court ruling, in the cases of two men whom the government wishes to deport — XC, a Pakistani student and one of the North West 10, and U, an Algerian — does the same for the system of deportation bail.

As I wait to see if the government will finally wake up to proposals put forward by the all-party law reform group JUSTICE (PDF), which include comprehensive explanations of how sensitive material can still be protected within a legally acceptable framework (rather than basing policy for eight years on paranoia and a disdain for the law), I leave the final word for now to the indefatigable solicitor Gareth Peirce, who has represented some of these men since they were first imprisoned without charge or trial in Belmarsh in December 2001.

As the Guardian explained, she “welcomed the court’s ‘resounding no’ to the idea that individuals could be detained on the basis of secret evidence, without recourse to apply to the high court for judicial review,” and stated, “The judges said there is an absolute, irreducible minimum of information that an individual should have.”

2 Responses

We become more and more isolated in the Western World. Like Pakistan we cling to our nukes and our torture chambers, ignoring the safety of our people, oblivious to everything but the lure of cash and the myth of social Darwinism. Meanwhile our children become more and more hooked on video and computer games, our middle class disappears, and our freedoms leak away as Obama becomes Bush and Amerika becomes post-war Germany. When all of the Western world is on one side with civil liberties and rule of law and we are on the other side with secret police, torture chambers and secret courts issuing “execute” orders who will speak for civil rights and essential freedoms? Britain? Hardly! Maybe Scandinavia…Who will be our Hitler? He will be a Republicrat at any rate. I have my passport ready.

Thanks for drawing attention, Andy, to the victory hard won for the men under immigration bail.
Some of these men were imprisoned without charge or trial at the end of 2001 (nearly 9 years ago). They were never questioned by police or security services. I often wonder if these particular men were chosen as they were foreign nationals who few knew or found sympathy with and to the shame of the media, these men were demonised over the years. Some had sought refuge in the UK having fled their own countries after spending time in the torture chambers there. Pity help them that they thought that the UK was reknowned for human rights.
After being released from Belmarsh on control orders, they lived half lives with their families until, after the horror of 7/7, when Bliar changed the “rules of the game”, these men were used as scapegoats, and re-arrested for deportation. Very hand really as the security services knew where they were as they had been under constant surveillance in the months of their release. One was taken from his psychiatric hospital bed where he had been since his release from Belmarsh and Broadmoor. He had been sent to Broadmoor when his mental health collapsed under 23 hour solitary confinement.
Eventually released under immigration bail, these men returned to their wives who all suffered clinical depression due to the treatment handed out by the Home Office.
All these men have ever asked for is a fair trial where they would get the chance to clear their names. Time will tell.
Let’s hope we are nearing the end of this country’s shameful decade but somehow I doubt it. Meantime I am sure the dark forces will already have worked out their next plan for these hostages, keeping them in cold storage until used again to appease the British public.